"We're just going to give them a number and they'll have to figure out how to stay within that budget," Madison County Commission Budget Chairman Douglas Stephenson (R-2) said. "That's how we do it with the budgets of constitutional officers."

Madison County Sheriff John Mehr thanks Congressman David Kustoff for stopping in Jackson, Wednesday, April 4, during his re-election campaign tour.(Photo: KENNETH CUMMINGS/The Jackson Sun)

The budget committee gave the department a 2% budget increase from 2017-18 to 2018-19, one of the highest of any department in the county, according to Taylor.

MCSO Budget Director Barry Smith said the 2% bump was good but not as much as the department wanted. MCSO originally request around $23 million for its 2018-19 budget.

Each year Mehr has been in office, MCSO has gone over its budget, ranging from $250,000 over to as high as $1.3 million.

What the budget committee will do

Stephenson would not say how much money the committee would recommend to give MCSO or whether they would base the budget increase on the originally appropriated amount of $21.4 million or the amended amount of $22.7 million

"I can say that there is no way we can do $25 million," he said.

The nearly $25 million request by MCSO includes a 7% raise for all of its employees., an additional $648,000 for medical services and supplies at the jail, and an additional $270,000 for food supplies at the jail.

"We can cut our budget in some places if we don't get all the money we're requesting," Smith said, "But that $24.9 million should cover almost everything thing we need barring something extraordinary happening."

Reach Adam Friedman by email at afriedman@jacksonsun.com, by phone at 731-431-8517 or follow him on Twitter @friedmanadam5.